New Mexico Statutes Chapter 77. Animals and Livestock § 77-1B-2. Definitions

A. “animal” means any animal, except humans, not defined as “livestock” in Subsection K of this section;

B. “animal shelter”:

C. “board” means the board of veterinary medicine;

D. “disposition” means adoption of an animal; return of an animal to the owner; release of an animal to a rescue organization; release of an animal to another animal shelter or to a rehabilitator licensed by the department of game and fish or the United States fish and wildlife service; or euthanasia of an animal;

E. “emergency field euthanasia” means the process defined by rule of the board to cause the death of an animal in an emergency situation when safe and humane transport of the animal is not possible;

F. “euthanasia” means to produce a humane death of an animal by standards deemed acceptable by the board as set forth in its rules;

G. “euthanasia agency” means a facility that provides shelter to animals on a regular basis, including a small animal impound facility, a humane society or a public or private shelter facility that temporarily houses stray, unwanted or injured animals, and that performs euthanasia;

H. “euthanasia drugs” means non-narcotic Schedule II or Schedule III substances and chemicals as set forth in the Controlled Substances Act  1 that are used for the purposes of euthanasia and pre-euthanasia of animals;

I. “euthanasia instructor” means a veterinarian or a euthanasia technician certified by the board to instruct other individuals in euthanasia techniques;

J. “euthanasia technician” means a person licensed by the board to euthanize animals for a euthanasia agency;

K. “livestock” means all domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch and exotic animals in captivity and includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae but does not include canine or feline animals;

L. “rescue organization” means an organization that rescues animals and is not involved in the breeding of animals;

M. “supervising veterinarian” means a person who is a veterinarian, who holds both a valid New Mexico controlled substance license and a valid federal drug enforcement agency license and who approves the drug protocols and the procurement and administration of all pharmaceuticals; and

N. “veterinarian” means a person who is licensed as a doctor of veterinary medicine by the board pursuant to the Veterinary Practice Act.  2